Saturday, March 22, 2008

And it has gone almost perfectly. SL has been totally acting up this week so some bugs were reported, but they were all due to simulator problems and the Banesuits could cope their way around most of the time. It is even better to test in these harsh conditions if you ask me.

I want to say a big THANK YOU ! to all the testers who applied and silently suffered for science... and "suffered" is not a vain word. Besides testing the technical aspects of the gear, they also experienced what it means to be a Bane. It does have a strong emotional impact, and I'm talking about two days only.

So I'm getting back to work on tweaking a few things for the better (or worse), thanks to their feedback and suggestions, finishing the maintenance stations, building the lab and release area, and finally making the group rules. Whew !

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Hi, well I must say it's been pretty quick... Ten vic-- err testers in less than a day ! Thank you all who applied, and to those who intended to but either didn't dare or weren't fast enough, don't worry the Banesuits will be out soon thanks to the suff-- dedication of some people of your kin.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

It's been so a month I have not written anything here. Sorry about staying silent. But that also means I was very busy working. This time, after all the time spent on the viewer and its Windlight version, I am back on my Banesuit.

But first, let me explain why I have delayed it so much. Back in early February, Linden Lab was talking about releasing their SL viewer 1.19, in which the new login pattern was supposed to be integrated. That meant (at least for me) a lot of work to keep things compatible, and I was foreseeing a week or two without a RL viewer available. I didn't want that interruption while I was going to start my Banishment Program group with a working Banesuit. So I preferred to postpone it and to concentrate on the viewer instead. But since things have evolved, the login thing has been delayed, and I could finally compile on WL. You know the rest.

On top of it, the first version of the Banesuit was quite bitchy and hard to maintain, so I kinda rewrote it. Preliminary field tests with 2 people went very well, with very good results.

Which is why I'm writing this post. I need to beta-test the Banesuit on more people before the end of the week. 10 people, to be exact. This will be done on a first-come-first-served basis, and will last a couple of days starting when the last tester has been chosen, after which we will review the bugs and feelings of everyone involved together. Here is how it will go :

* If you're interested in testing the Banesuit with me, please send me a notecard with your avatar name and your usual online times (at least the times you'll be online during the testing).* Make sure you own either a full Powers of Creation black latex catsuit, or even better the black latex skin of the same brand, as either will be part of the Bane outfit.* You also need to use the latest RestrainedLife viewer (1.10.4 as the time of this writing, but it will work down to 1.10.2). Not using this viewer makes the Banesuit rather useless.* Once started, the test campaign will be pretty simple. I will lock all the Banesuits, take the role of the Operator, give the testers Bane names and activate all the protocols.* Be aware that during the testing, you will not be able to communicate with anybody, including your friends. You will live what Banes live.

And you will get a free Bane helmet and collar of the latest version when I open the group ^_^

Still not scared ? Good. Keep in mind that only the first 10 will be chosen, and I'll try to close the call on this very blog as soon as we reach the limit. But if I get way too many notecards in the meantime, please don't be upset if I don't answer. I'm not rude, just very busy.